JPH05137137A - Video conference system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain the video conference system by which presentation, etc., can be executed satisfactorily by a simple operation. CONSTITUTION:In the video conference system for executing a conference between a person being in a first position 10 and a person being in a second position 30, video storage means 35, 40 and 43 for storing video information transmitted from a first position 10, and a control information storage means 34 for storing display sequence information of the video information stored in this storage means are provided in a second position 30. In such a state, the video information and the display sequence information are transmitted in advance to a second position 30 from a first position 10, and thereafter, display switching information is transmitted to a second position 30 from a first position 10, by which an image stored in the video storage means is displayed successively in accordance with the display sequence information stored in the control information storage means 34.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video conference system for conducting a conference using various television receivers.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various types of video conference systems have been developed. This video conferencing system
For example, as shown in FIG. 2, monitor receivers 18a and 38a are provided in the first conference room 10 and the second conference room 30, respectively.
Etc. are installed, and the state of each conference room is displayed on the monitor receiver of another conference room so that the conference can be advanced between the two conference rooms. In this case, ISDN (Integra
ted Services Digital Network
Ork: a comprehensive service digital communication network) is generally used to transmit video data and the like through a telephone line. Therefore, there is a limit to the amount of data that can be transmitted depending on the line, and it is difficult to transmit high-resolution images in real time as in ordinary television broadcasting. I am letting you.

For this reason, the image displayed on the other side by such a system has a disadvantage that the resolution is deteriorated or the followability to a fast-moving object is deteriorated. When used in a state where the state of the conference room is displayed, deterioration of resolution does not become a problem.

[0004]

By the way, when conducting an electronic conference with such a system, usually, in addition to displaying the state of the conference room of the other party on the monitor receiver of the other party, it is prepared in advance. It is often practiced to photograph the displayed materials and display them on the other side, so that not only a conference but also various presentations can be performed smoothly.

However, when such various materials are displayed, the above-mentioned deterioration of resolution and the like becomes a problem.
That is, when a document or the like is transmitted to the other party and displayed, the resolution is problematic because the characters and the like written in this document need to be readable to the display image. Further, when transmitting the image reproduced from the video tape to the other party, if the image signal is compressed and transmitted by such a system, the image in which a fast-moving object is photographed is particularly deteriorated. ..

[0006] Further, there is an inconvenience that the operation is troublesome when giving such a presentation. That is, it is necessary to perform an operation of sequentially transmitting various video information to the other party in accordance with the progress of a conference or the like, and in the case of the conventional system, a specialized operator who operates the transmission device is usually required in addition to the person who explains. Met.

In view of these points, an object of the present invention is to provide a video conference system capable of favorably giving a presentation or the like by a simple operation.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention includes a first position 10 having a video sending device, as shown in FIG. 1, for example.
A video conference in which at least video information is transmitted to and from the second position 30 equipped with a video image receiving device, and a conference is held between the person at the first position 10 and the person at the second position 30. In the system, in the second position 30, the video storage means 35, 4 for storing the video information transmitted from the first position 10.
0, 43 and control information storage means 34 for storing the display order information of the video information stored in the storage means 35, 40, 43 are provided, and the video information and the display order information are stored in advance from the first position 10. After transmitting the information to the second position 30, the display switching information is transmitted from the first position 10 to the second position 30, so that the video storage unit 35 follows the display order information stored in the control information storage unit 34. , 40, 43 are sequentially displayed on the image receiving device.

Further, according to the present invention, for example, as shown in FIG.
In a video conference system in which a person at a predetermined place 10 is provided with a video image receiving device 18 to hold a conference, video storage means 15, 20, 23 for storing video information and the storage means 1
5, 20 and 23 are provided with the control information storage means 14 for storing the display order information of the video information stored in the video storage means 15, 20, 23 according to the display order information stored in the control information storage means 14. The stored images are sequentially displayed on the image receiving device 18.

[0010]

By doing so, the images such as materials prepared in advance are transmitted from the first position to the second position before the conference starts, so that the display can be switched while the conference is in progress. By performing only the operation to be performed, the sequentially set images are displayed on the second position side. Further, by storing the display image and the display order information on the first position side, the set image is also displayed on the first position side.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In this example, the system is constructed as shown in FIG. In FIG. 1, 10 is the first conference room,
30 indicates the second conference room, and both conference rooms 10 and 30 are IS
It is connected via a telephone line 1 such as DN. In this case, the first conference room 10 and the second conference room 30 have the same basic configuration, and the configuration of both conference rooms will be described at the same time in the following description of the configuration.

That is, in each of the conference rooms 10 and 30,
The line terminators 2 and 3 are connected to the telephone line 1, and the system controllers 11 and
31 is connected. This system controller 11,
Reference numeral 31 controls various operations in each conference room, such as transmission and reception of video and audio, image reception and reproduction. In this case, the touch panel 12,
32 and the simple commanders 13 and 33 are connected to each other so that various settings can be performed by operating the touch panels 12 and 32.
It can be done with 3, 33. Further, each system controller 11 and 31 has a scenario storage memory 1
4 and 34 are connected to each other, information about a scenario such as a display order set based on an operation of the touch panels 12 and 32, and information about a scenario transmitted from another conference room side via the telephone line 1 are displayed. I am able to remember it.

The system controller 1 in each conference room
Various video devices and audio devices are connected to 1, 31. That is, still image file devices 15 and 35 in which a video floppy disk capable of recording a video signal of several tens of frames as a still image is loaded, video cameras 16 and 36 for photographing the inside of a conference room, and sounds in the conference room are picked up. Microphones 17 and 37, a monitor receiver 18 for displaying various images,
38, speaker devices 19 and 39 for outputting voice,
The VTRs 20 and 40 in which the video tape cassettes are loaded are connected to the system controllers 11 and 31.
In this case, a plurality of devices such as the monitor receivers 18 and 38 are installed in each conference room. Under the control of the system controllers 11 and 31, the video signal and the audio signal obtained from each video device can be transmitted to the other conference room side. In this case, there are cases where data is compressed at a high compression rate and transmitted in real time, and cases where images prepared in advance are transmitted without compression, as will be described later, over time.

Further, each system controller 11, 31
The document processors 21 and 41 are connected to the document processor 21, and the document processors 21 and 41 control processing such as displaying, recording, and transmitting documents. That is, the document processors 21 and 41 in the respective conference rooms have scanners 22 and 42 for reading documents.
Further, magneto-optical disk devices 23 and 43 as document files for storing the read data and the transmitted document data (document data) as character code data and graphic data are connected. Also, the document processors 21 and 41 are connected to the line terminators 2 and 3, respectively.
And the document processor 21,
The data obtained at 41 can be directly transmitted to another conference room through the telephone line 1. In addition, the magneto-optical disk device 2
The character code data and the graphic data obtained from 3, 43 are converted into video data for display by the document processors 21, 41, and the system controller 11,
The document data is displayed as an image on the monitor receivers 18, 38 connected to the system controllers 11, 31.

These video equipments and magneto-optical disk devices can reproduce data such as video signals from recording media loaded in the respective equipments, and can be transmitted from the other conference room side via the telephone line 1. The recorded data can be recorded on each recording medium. This recording is performed under the control of the system controllers 11 and 31 and the document processors 21 and 41, and is performed by operating the touch panels 12 and 32 of the conference rooms 10 and 30, and the telephone line 1 from the other conference room side. It is also made possible by control data transmitted via the.

Here, FIG. 2 shows an example of an actual conference room. For example, in the first conference room 10, a plurality of large monitor receivers 18a are installed on the wall surface and also on the table. A plurality of small monitor receivers 18b are installed. Further, an operation console 24 is provided, and as shown in FIG.
A touch panel 12 and a simple commander 13 are arranged on the console 24, and a monitor receiver 18c is also installed on the console 24. In this case, the touch panel 12 can be operated according to the display by pressing each part displayed on the screen. In addition, the simple commander 13 has a forward key 13a and a backward key 13
b is provided so that the forward and reverse directions of the image can be switched in accordance with a preset scenario. By configuring the console 24 in this manner, the operator operates the touch panel 12 and the simple commander 13 while confirming the image displayed on the monitor receiver 18c, thereby transmitting various images. I can give instructions.

Next, an example of a case where a conference is held using the video conference system configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. 4 and subsequent figures.

Here, in order to give some kind of presentation, by operating the console 24 of the first conference room 10,
The description will be made assuming that video is displayed on each monitor receiver 18 in the first conference room 10 and each monitor receiver 38 in the second conference room 30.

First, in this example, it is necessary to set a scenario before a conference is held. That is, a video and a display order necessary for giving a presentation are set as a scenario. The images that can be set in this case are the still images recorded on the video floppy disk set in the still image file device 15, the images (moving images) recorded on the video tape set in the VTR 20, and the magneto-optical disk device 23. Documents recorded by. In this example, in the case of a still image recorded on a video floppy disk, individual instructions can be given by the frame number, and in the case of a moving image recorded on a video tape, individual instructions can be given by the index number. In the case of a document recorded on a magneto-optical disk, individual instructions can be given by the document number. Therefore, as a scenario, the ID of the device that reproduces the corresponding video,
By specifying each of the above-mentioned numbers, the video to be displayed can be specified.

For example, the document of document number 1 recorded on the magneto-optical disk, the still image of frame number 4 recorded on the video floppy disk, the document of document number 3 recorded on the magneto-optical disk, and the video tape. It is assumed that the videos with index number 4 are displayed in this order.
At this time, by operating the touch panel 12 of the console 24, this scenario (that is, display order, device ID, and data number) is stored in the scenario storage memory 14 connected to the system controller 11 of the first conference room 10. Remember. Here, when the storage state in the memory 14 is shown in FIG. 4, the device IDs are stored in the memory 14 for each scenario number (display order).
An area for storing the data number is provided, and each data is stored in the order described above.

When the scenario setting work is completed in this way, the corresponding image data or document data recorded on the recording medium loaded in each device is read under the control of the system controller 11 or the document processor 21. , To the second conference room 30 side via the telephone line 1. In this case, in the case of data recorded as analog data, it is converted into digital data and transmitted. At this time, the image data read from each video device is transmitted without being compressed (or at a relatively low compression rate). Therefore, the transmission time is relatively long.

FIG. 5 shows the structure of the transmission data at this time. One unit of image data (including document data)
A frame structure in which data such as a device ID, an individual number, and a scenario number is added for each frame is transmitted as one frame (this frame is unrelated to the frame of the video signal).

When the second conference room 30 receives the image data transmitted from the first conference room 10, the system controller 31 and the document processor 4 receive the image data.
With control No. 1, the data is recorded on the recording medium loaded in the device indicated by the additional data. In addition, the data related to the scenario such as the device ID, the individual number, and the scenario number indicated by the data added to the image data is stored in the system controller 3
It is stored in the scenario storage memory 34 connected to 1. Therefore, when the transmission of all the image data is completed, the same data as the scenario storage memory 14 on the first conference room 10 side is stored in the scenario storage memory 34 on the second conference room 30 side. Will be there.

In this way, the preparation in advance is completed by transmitting the image data and the like to the second conference room 30 side.

Next, the control state when a conference is held using the images thus prepared will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Here, the first conference room 10
By the control on the side, switching control of display images in both conference rooms 10 and 30 is performed.

First, a selection is made between a mode in which an image prepared in advance is displayed or a mode in which a real-time image captured by a video camera or the like is displayed (step 101). The selection operation in this case is performed in the first conference room 1
It is performed using the touch panel 12 on the operation console 24 of 0. Then, when in the mode for displaying real-time video, the video signal obtained by the video camera or the like is compressed, and the telephone lines 1 are mutually exchanged from both conference rooms 10 and 30.
And the monitor receiver 18 in the other conference room,
No. 38 is displayed (step 102).

Then, in the mode for displaying the image prepared in advance, it is judged whether or not the simple commander 13 on the console 24 is operated by the system controller 11 on the side of the first conference room 10 ( Step 10
3). And the forward key 13 of the simple commander 13
When a or the reverse key 13b is operated, the scenario number data of the number advanced in the direction corresponding to the operated key (however, first is number 1 in either direction) is transmitted from the system controller 11 via the telephone line 1. Second conference room 3
0 to the system controller 31 (step 1
04). When this scenario number data reaches the system controller 31 of the second conference room 30, the data of the corresponding number stored in the connected scenario storage memory 34 is read (step 105). Then, the system controller 31 sends a command for outputting the recorded video signal to the video device (second conference room 30 side) indicated by the read data. In this case, the video of the video number (document number, frame number, index number) indicated by the read data is output. Then, this output image is displayed on each monitor receiver 38 in the second conference room 30. For example, when the data is stored in the memory in the order shown in FIG. 4 and the scenario number 1 is designated, the magneto-optical disk device 23 reads the data of the document number 1 and displays it as an image.

Unless the mode is switched, every time the forward key 13a or the backward key 13b of the simple commander 13 on the first conference room 10 side is operated, the operation proceeds in the direction corresponding to the operated key. The scenario number data of the number is transmitted, and the image display is switched according to the scenario.

Although not shown in the flow chart, when the scenario number data is transmitted from the system controller 11 of the first conference room 10, it is stored in the scenario storage memory 14 on the side of the first conference room 10. The data of the corresponding number is also read by the system controller 11, the video of the corresponding number of the device indicated by this data is output, and this video is displayed on each monitor receiver 18 of the first conference room 10. Therefore, the video displayed on each monitor receiver 18 in the first conference room 10 and the second conference room 30
The video displayed on each monitor receiver 38 is the same.

In this way, the image prepared in advance is
By being simultaneously displayed in both conference rooms 10 and 30, it is possible to give a presentation to persons in both conference rooms 10 and 30 at the same time. In this case, the displayed image is transmitted without being compressed over time (or compressed at a low compression rate), so that a clear image with high resolution can be displayed. In particular, when displaying a still image such as a document in which characters are written, if the resolution is high, the contents can be easily read and the conference progresses smoothly. Further, the operation required when actually conducting the conference is only the forward key 13a and the backward key 13b of the simple commander 13 on the console 24, and only the simple operation is required, and the person who gives the presentation can perform the conference. Easy to operate inside, no dedicated operator required.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, all the images are transmitted in advance. However, if a moving image such as a video reproduced from a VTR is transmitted without being compressed, the data amount becomes very large. Since the transmission time becomes long, a moving image that does not require a high resolution may be transmitted in real time even when it is displayed according to the scenario described above. In this case, in the scenario memory,
This can be dealt with by storing that the video of the corresponding scenario number is a signal transmitted in real time.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, only the case of displaying in order according to the scenario has been described, but it is also possible to display in order different from the order of scenario numbers.
In this case, it is also possible to simply press the forward key 13a or the backward key 13b of the simple commander 13 a plurality of times to operate until the image of the corresponding scenario number is displayed. It is also possible to instruct and display the corresponding image. Further, the simple commander side may be provided with a ten-key or the like capable of directly instructing the scenario number so that the display images can be selected in an arbitrary order by operating the simple commander.

In the above-described embodiment, the same display is made on both the first conference room 10 side and the second conference room 30. However, the operation is simply performed on the console 24 of the first conference room 10. Then, only the monitor receivers 18 in the first conference room 10 may be caused to display according to the set scenario. In this case, only the operation of storing the scenario in the memory needs to be performed in advance, and it is not necessary to transmit the scenario to another conference room side in advance by a telephone line.

On the contrary, the same control data or the like can be transmitted from the first conference room 10 to two or more conference rooms, and a presentation according to a scenario between the conference rooms of three or more locations is also possible.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, only the transmission of the video from the video equipment is controlled according to the scenario, but other control may be performed. For example, when a monitor receiver of the type that projects and displays an image using a projector is used, it is necessary to darken the conference room at the time of display, so the lighting device is controlled as a scenario to be stored in the memory. Data may be added, and the conference room may be automatically darkened by this data at the time of display.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, only the display of the image is explained, but it is also possible to print out the displayed image as a hard copy or to perform some processing such as writing in the displayed image. is there. At this time, an operation is performed on the console 24 of the first conference room 10 which controls the transmission of the video, and a case where centralized control is performed for all conference rooms and a console of each conference room are used. Therefore, it may be possible to carry out each conference room individually. However, in the case of performing the centralized control, it is necessary to transmit control data indicating this (data written in the screen, etc.) through the telephone line 1.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the data transmission between the plurality of conference rooms is carried out by the telephone line, but various wireless communication (ground wave communication, satellite communication, infrared signal communication, etc.), etc. It can also be applied to the case where transmission is performed by another communication method.

Furthermore, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the invention is applied to the electronic conference system by the communication between the conference rooms, but it is also possible to similarly control the video displayed in a place other than the conference room by using a telephone line or the like. Is.

[0040]

According to the present invention, images such as materials prepared in advance are sequentially displayed at distant positions only by switching the display. Further, it is possible to easily display the image such as the prepared material on the side where the operation is performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a usage state of a system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a console according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing a storage example of a scenario storage memory according to an embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a transmission state of image data according to an embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining one embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Telephone Line 10 First Conference Room 11,31 System Controller 12,32 Touch Panel 13,33 Simple Commander 14,34 Scenario Storage Memory 15,35 Still Image File Device 18,38 Monitor Receiver 20,40 VTR 21,41 Document processor 22,42 Scanner 23,43 Magneto-optical disk device 30 Second conference room

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. At least video information is transmitted between a first position equipped with a video sending device and a second position equipped with a video receiving device, and the person in the first position and the above-mentioned person. Second
In a video conference system for conducting a conference with a person at the position, a video storage unit for storing video information transmitted from the first position at the second position, and a video storage unit stored at the storage unit. A control information storage unit for storing display order information of video information is provided, and after the video information and the display order information are transmitted from the first position to the second position in advance, the control information storage unit stores the video information and the display order information from the first position. By transmitting the display switching information to the second position, according to the display order information stored in the control information storage means,
A video conference system in which the images stored in the image storage means are sequentially displayed on the image receiving device. 2. A video conferencing system in which a person at a predetermined place is provided with a video image receiving device to hold a conference, and video storing means for storing video information, and display order information of the video information stored in the storing means. A video conference system in which the video information stored in the video storage device is sequentially displayed according to the display order information stored in the control information storage device.